Why Users Love Your App and Never Come Back
Here’s something that will mess with your head if you design products, apps, or experiences for a living.…
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The Blog
Ideas on motivation, behavior & design.
Deep dives on the psychology behind why people do what they do — from Yu-kai Chou, creator of the Octalysis Framework. Pick the topic that matters to you.
The Endgame Problem: How Great Games Keep Veterans from Quitting
Your Best Players Are Leaving, and You Haven’t Noticed Your product is thriving. Users are onboarding smoothly, the…
The Achievement Treadmill: Why We Chase Progress (And When It Breaks)
The human urge to improve, to reach higher, to prove capacity is universal. Yet most systems claiming to…
Badges That Backfire: Why Most Achievement Systems Destroy Motivation
If you’ve spent time in a modern app, a language learning platform, an employee training system, a fitness…
Why Losing Hurts Twice as Much: The Psychology Behind Every Decision You Regret
We feel losses more intensely than equivalent gains. That asymmetry, often described as loss aversion in behavioral economics,…
Curiosity’s Dark Side: When Mystery Becomes Addiction
Core Drive 7: The Only Intrinsic Black Hat Drive Core Drive 7, Unpredictability and Curiosity, is the human…
The Irrational Power of Scarcity: Why Price Amplifies Desire
The Turquoise Jewelry Lesson Robert Cialdini recounts a famous retail anecdote about a jewelry store owner whose turquoise…